The saga of the on-off initial public offering of Iberia, the Spanish airline, is finally coming to an end, putting Merrill Lynch and Banco Santander Central Hispano (BSCH) out of their misery after over two years of work on the deal.

The sale by the Spanish government of 54% of Iberia is now back on track for the beginning of April after a strike by pilots - which had threatened to postpone the IPO yet again - was called off on Thursday.